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The Life You Were Dreaming About
This week, we got to talk with writer, consultant, and working mom Hilary Sutton, and the whole conversation kept coming back to one question:
What did you really want before life got so loud?
The dream list from 14 years ago
Hilary recently found a list of dreams she had written 14 years ago, before marriage, before kids, before so many of the responsibilities that now fill her days.
And the beautiful thing was that the list wasn’t full of job titles or income goals or some hyper-specific version of success.
It was about building a life.
A home. A safe place for her kids. A family that felt loved. Creative work. Meaningful work. Vacations. Church. Living near people she loves.
You can read Hilary’s full piece here (warning, you’ll want to start journaling your own reflections and dreams after readying it!) : I found a list of dreams I made 14 years ago.
Maybe you’re not behind
For the moms who are wired to keep moving, keep building, keep improving, keep asking what’s next, it can be hard to stop long enough to notice what’s already here.
Hilary described herself as someone who is always thinking ahead.
There is always another thing to do, another version of ourselves we’re trying to become, another goal that feels like it should already be further along.
But sometimes looking back gives us a better reality check than looking forward.
Maybe the life you’re living right now has pieces of the life you used to dream about. Maybe the ordinary things that feel so heavy in this season are also evidence of prayers answered, work invested, and dreams slowly taking shape.
Not perfectly and not without chaos, but still very much happening.
The middle years are loud
One thing said in the conversation really stuck with us: in these middle years, it’s easy to forget what we really want because there are so many tiny responsibilities that actually do matter.
The mortgage matters. The camp schedule matters. The food on the table matters. The work deadlines matter. The kids’ hearts matter.
It ALL matters.
But when everything matters, it can be hard to remember what matters most.
That’s why this conversation was an important invitation to pause for a second and ask:
What am I actually building here?
What do I want this season to feel like?
What am I trying to protect, not just produce?
Imagination is not just for our kids
We also talked about imagination, and not in a Pinterest-perfect playroom kind of way.
Hilary shared that when kids feel safe, they are free to dream, play, create, and imagine. And that felt like one of those parenting truths that also applies to us.
When we feel safe, we can dream too.
When we’re not constantly bracing, proving, managing, and over-functioning, we can remember that the future is not just a list of responsibilities. It can still hold possibility.
And sometimes, the most grounded thing we can do as moms is make space to imagine again.
Listen to the full conversation
In this episode, we talk with Hilary Sutton about working motherhood, planning without trying to control everything, choosing what deserves your yes, raising imaginative kids, and remembering that this season is not a reflection of your worth as a mom.
You can follow Hilary’s writing on The Motherload, where she writes about work, motherhood, creativity, and the honest middle of it all.
For the mom asking, “What do I actually want?”
If this episode stirred something in you, especially around what you really want in this season of motherhood, we’d love to support you.
Get Mom Ready coaching is for the mom who is carrying a lot and needs space to sort through what’s working, what’s not, and what she actually needs next.
You can learn more about coaching by booking a call with Meredith or send us a DM on Instagram @getmomready.
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